Writing Their Own Epitaph

This was not a day to write home about for Trumbellina. First of all, Mike Pence proved that it’s never too late in life. His 2nd nut finally dropped, and he came right out and said that Trump was wrong when he said Pence could steal the election. Heavy words coming from a man with a spine of Cream-o-wheat. And then, his hand picked RNC officially censured Liz Cheney and adam Kinzinger for upholding the constitution. Which pisses Trump off, since he wanted them banished into the Romulan wastes.

But it was an even worse day for the RNC. Because today they finally disposed of all pretense of being a political party. On official RNC letterhead, under the RNC logo, they proudly announced the official censure of Representatives Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney. The reason was a beaut, they were doing their jobs but the RNC called it Persecuting innocent citizens for engaging in legitimate political discourse. Really?

Look, J6 was a lot of things. It was a failed coup, a bloody insurrection, a politically motivated riot, and fascist bullshit, but legitimate public discourse it wasn’t. Ronna Romney McDaniel may as well empty out her desk, It’s now officially the Trump Republican Socialist Party. 

Truth no longer has meaning in Trumptopia, but the holes are big enough to drive Mack truck through.

Let’s just start with Pence’s contribution, cuz it’s simple. The whole stated purpose of the J6 rally was to Stop The Steal! That’s why they marched on the Capitol in the first place, blood in their eye. But Pence says Trump is full of shit, he didn’t have the authority to change the election results. Which means the entire thing, from rally to riot was an exercise in futility, since it couldn’t accomplish its goal.

But this is absolutely catastrastrophic for the GOP caucus, especially the GOP House caucus. And you know how they know it? Because nobody in the GOP House caucus wants to talk about it! A handful of secure GOP Senators are making supportive moo-moo noises for Cheney, but the GOP House are all a quiet as church mice.

And here’s two good reasons. And God pound me, here we are again, right back to those same pesky 50-70 competitive or highly competitive mostly suburban swing districts that will settle the House. And unlike their GOP representatives, they like to think every once in a while.

So, one. Even if they don’t watch MSNBC or CNN all day, they know what the J6 committee is, and what Kinzinger and Cheney are doing on it. Their goddamn day jobs! And one of the first questions these people are going to ask themselves and each other is, What kind of a party slaps down its members just for having a contrarian opinion on an issue? What kind of a party ruthlessly stifles dissent in the ranks. Oh yeah, that’s right, the Communist party. After all, the Democrats got as pissed as hell at Manchin and Sinema for tanking the BBB Bill over inflation, but they didn’t try to boot them from the party.

Reason Dos. Almost nobody in the GOP caucus, even the Trombies want to be talking about Stop The Steal or the Capitol riot. they want to be talking about what useless losers Biden and the Democrats are. But the freakin’ GOP just officially branded a bloody coup attempt as Legitimate political discourse.

That phrase is going to hang like an anchor around the GOP’s neck for the next 9 months. Starting tomorrow, any well funded Democratic incumbent, or an aligned PAC or Super PAC can start running ads tomorrow defining the 2022 campaign by carpet bombing the GOP. Imagine a 15 or 30 second spot. Video of the carnage, cops being stabbed with flag poles, being beaten over the head with fire extinguishers, and being hit with bear spray, while the voice over intones, The Republican National Committee officially said that they consider this Legitimate political discourse. If that’s actually what they think, do you even want to know what else they think? 

And it’s only going to get worse. Because in 4-6 weeks the hopefully prime time hearings are going to begin. And make no mistake, over the last year, by necessity the coverage of the J6 insurrection has faded from the news. It’s easy to forget. But the hearings are going to bring it all right back front and center, and pound it home. And if the Democrats are smart, they’ll play that ad before, after, and in any commercial breaks in the hearings.

Trump has always wanted his own party, and now he has it. And what he has is a party in tatters, a mutiny from his former Vice President, more groups than you can count nipping at the party’s open wounds, with absolutely nothing to run on, and everything to run away from. All while numbers are starting to show that Trump’s grip on the party may be weakening. I’ll have more to say on that later.